#basically my new fandom is sucking up my creative energy for other characters

[cruesuffix]

1. definitely nikki. i don’t really really vibe with him much and it gets annoying seeing him under tags that have nothing to do with him (like i’m trying to see mick not that giant mf)

2. rarest thing i have is the theory that the indecent exposure story was possibly a lie?? apparently mick actually was being indecent in a hotel bathroom and that’s actually why he got arrested. now this could also be a lie, or he could have just been confused for tommy, just like the original story. i just found it funny how everyone in the band has said the same thing about the story so it seems so unlikely that it was a lie, but there were newspaper articles about it…will we ever know? i have no clue. (was totally rambling here whoops).

3. favourite thing: how creative the fandom can be, be it fanart or fanfics. i’ve read some great ass fanfics in this fandom tbh, y’all are real good at this shit. least favourite thing: unfortunately, you guys are not good at simply just holding your favs accountable and keeping it real. we don’t have to defend these guys, it’s actually kind of pathetic seeing you guys defend the CRAZIEST THINGS. pls, just admit they’re all awful people and keep it pushing.

4. i’ve only really read the dirt and the heroin diaries so i’ll have to go with the basic answer of the dirt. i find the multiple perspectives great, and there’s something about reading the members collective mental breakdowns entertaining. (yes i know that sounds terrible).

5. i know everyone’s saying this but i can’t not mention the resurrection of motley crue. i’ve watched it so many times i could probably recite it all. there’s something so interesting about seeing the band dynamics right there, seeing them interact after not really seeing each other in a long time. just that scene of vince and tommy awkwardly interacting with each other is burned into my brain permanently.

6. i would say both tommy and mick. i have the attitude and philosophy of mick, with the personality and energy of tommy. so i’m a slightly depressed golden retriever boy. that probably makes no sense.

7. for this i’m just going to refer to the midnight barber bit from the mighty boosh (if you know what that is you are the coolest person on the planet) i would attribute that bit to nikki and mick. i think this bit only really reminds me of these two because of that story of nikki ripping out a clump of micks hair…yea this was a weird answer.

8. the fanfics!! omg the fanfics are some of the greatest parts of being here. ao3 has the best fics tho…no shade to the hellsite though, there’s some good things here too.

9. i wanna say all of them tbh. all of them, when pushed to a limit, acts out. i want to say nikki but the way he’s been going on about the current situation (mick) he’s been really immature about it (all his weird ass tweets) tommy we all know has a history of acting out on his emotions, and so has vince. mick on the other hand is so emotionally despondent he lets ppl walk all over him because he doesn’t WANT to act out and is afraid of letting his emotions get the best of him. they all suck at handling things emotionally, which is why they’ve broken up like 50 times.

10. it’s both for me, the music and the band itself are both entertaining enough to be obsessed with.

11. home sweet home (the solo literally speaks to my soul) and save our souls

12. as much as i appreciate the other members for replacing their respective roles as well as they could, i really don’t care about them. the original four are the only ones that matter to me. without any of the four members it really doesn’t feel like the crüe.

13. i don’t care for most of their later discography (i say that but i haven’t really listened to new tattoo or saints) like the last album i’ll actively listen to a lot is self titled. i think they should have just retired after red white and crue era and called it a day.

14. i do have a fic i’m working on…all i’ll say is major character death warning. :)

15. the best thing i’ve seen is all the mick stans going crazy over his solo debut. i was right there with y’all i can’t believe it’s taken so long but it was SO worth it!

The weirdest cruehead questionnaire

Hello everyone, so I've been looking at alot of these question-answer response things on Tumblr, yanno where people will like ask people from a specific fandom some qeustions to get to know the people in the community and the qeustions are usually stuff like, “how did you get into it?” And “Who's your favourite character/member” 

So I thought I'd do something like that, but just a little…. differently.

Basically I'm gonna ask y'all qeustions I've never really heard asked in the community/low-key out of pocket crue qeustions and then you guys just reblog with your responses, that sound cool?

Great!, let's get started.

1.Which member is to you the least interesting and why? ( Not least favourite, just which member do you not spend to much thought on)

2. What is the rarest Mötley crüe story or bit of information that you know?

3. What's your favourite and least favourite thing about the fandom?

4. What is your favourite Mötley book and why?

5. What is your favourite Mötley crüe supplementary material to watch (so this would include the movie, any documentaries, cartoons, anything like that) and why?

6. Which member do you personally identify with and why?

7. Pick a quote from anything non-Mötley related that reminds you of your favourite member and explain how you think it relates to them or why you think it matches them.

8. What's your favourite piece of crüe content that comes from the fandom itself ( fanart, fanfic etc.)

9. Which member do you think is the best at handling emotional situations in the band, and who's the worst and why do you think that?

10. Are you more in the fandom for the music or for the members/crazy stories themselves?

11. What song means something to you personally, good or bad?

12. Which one of the non-original members do you actually prefer to the original members?

13. What's a Mötley opinion that everyone else seems to agree on and you don't or what opinion do you have that nobody else shares?

14. Do you have any unfinished crüe content that you are/where making that you wanna share a bit of? ( This can be fanart, fic ideas, album aliases etc.)

15. What's the best thing you've experienced in the fandom?

[marguerite-baker-blog]

!

Hey y’all! Sorry about the inactivity, that was an exhausting few weeks that just went by.I’m trying to whir up the mental writing machine again, so please stay patient if I haven’t gotten to your starter/ask yet! I assure you I do know about it. 

Also, bless y’all for helping me break 60! This is so exciting! 

In case any of you happen to be in the fandom, I also recently just got into The Adventure Zone! I have a LOT of fic ideas for that, so if you’re interested in reading them (or just want to talk about TAZ), feel free to subscribe to Kikithehousemoose on Ao3 or follow @lichbarry on here, which is where I’ll be linking to my fics! 

[deliriumsdelight7]

A plea for audience engagement

Hoo boy.  I did NOT want to do this.  At all.  But I feel like the Rumbelle fandom has reached a fork in the road.  One path leads to years of wonderful stories and content for the fandom to enjoy.  The other leads to a slow death for this wonderful community.

This rant is probably going to come across whiny, bitchy, and completely entitled, so if you’re not up for reading that, feel free to scroll past.

There has been a sharp downturn in audience engagement in the fandom as a whole lately.  I’ve been seeing fics get just as many views as they did last year, or close to it, but fewer and fewer likes, reblogs, and AO3 comments over the past few months.  At first, I thought it was just me: either my imagination, or maybe my writing was starting to stagnate (or worse, starting to suck).  But no - I’ve had multiple authors mention how their work over the past few months will get few interactions, or worse - none at all.  Combing through their Tumblr and AO3 pages confirmed my suspicions (yes, I am being THAT flavor of creep).

This issue extends to weekly author Tumblr posts, such as TMI Tuesday.  For the past few months, I (as an example) have been extremely lucky to get a single Ask in my inbox.  Most weeks, I get nothing at all.  Other writers have reported the same thing.  It’s gotten to the point where other writers have stopped making these weekly posts altogether, because... why bother?  Why take the time to write that post inviting interactions?  It’s clearly adding nothing to the fandom, so all it does is open you up for disappointment when nobody responds.

Now, I know that nobody is entitled to comments/kudos/likes/reblogs/whatever.  And anybody who creates art for no other reason than to get compliments is going to have a bad time.  But here’s the thing: without input, there can be no output.  As our favorite scaly wizard says, everything comes at a price.  Writing fic is a creative, joyful, freeing thing - but it’s also work.  It’s stressful, it’s time-consuming, it’s exhausting... For those of us who are constantly putting out content, it’s basically an unpaid second job.  So when you pour your time, energy, and soul into a work and get little to no response... it’s discouraging.  Really discouraging.  I know for a fact that I’m not alone in feeling this way.  Multiple other authors are starting to feel both disheartened and unappreciated, to the point where they’re considering becoming much less active in the fandom and moving on to others.  I’m talking about die-hard fans who put out multiple entries a month - sometimes multiple a week!

Look, I get it.  Life really sucks right now for a lot of us.  Many members of the fandom don’t have the time/energy/spoons to go on Tumblr or AO3 to read.  This post isn’t aimed at them.  But for those of you who still check the Rumbelle tag daily, weekly, monthly, whatever, please - please interact with your content creators.  They pour so much of themselves into their work.  Hours upon hours go into each and every one.  So please - if you read someone’s work, just take thirty seconds out of your day to send them a comment.  It doesn’t have to be an essay.  It can be a sentence.  Or a word.  Or an emoji.  Anything!  And if they solicit Asks, send them a quick one!  Ask their characters questions.  Ask the author questions about themselves as a writer, or about who they are as a person!  I promise, it absolutely makes their day.

I love this fandom, guys.  In the Rumbelle fandom, I feel like I’ve found a sense of belonging I never knew before.  I’ve been pouring my energy into keeping the fandom alive through discussions, taking over popular events, trying to create new events, and yes - writing fic.  I would gladly bleed myself dry for this fandom.  But all of that comes to nothing if several of our most prolific authors become too discouraged to contribute.  So I beg you - please, please, please let your content creators know how much you love their work!

[slashesotron]

Not sure if this really applies, but how do you,, like,, get yourself out there? I'm trying to get my art out there but I don't really know how-

This is a really tricky one, especially in the current internet age where tumblr’s usefulness is severely limited by incompetent attempts at managing their bot problem and everywhere else is a slave to the dreaded algorithm, but I can tell you what I know. 

DO WHAT YOU ENJOY. This journey is a lot of work, and if you’re just catering to others, it’s going to be a slog. 

Side note: Drawing fanart for the current Big Thing is a shortcut to gaining a following, but in general, it’s a shallow following: They often won’t be interested in your work if you stop posting for that fandom. I’ve had this happen!

POST OFTEN. The more you post, the better, in general. 

INTERACT. Talk to other people who have similar interests! Engage with your followers! Tell others what you like about their art! Ask about their characters! I know- as an anxious mess myself, this can be really, really hard, but it’s key!

USE TAGS. However, only the first FIVE tags will show up. Make them count; use popular tags relevant to your work. You’ll see me using guro, gore, yandere, male yandere, and btd often, for example.

SOME TAGS / WORDS ARE HIDDEN. Basically, post and check the tag to see if it showed up. If not, edit and try again. Anything sexual is hidden, which is why you’ll see people using stuff like ‘suggestive’ and ‘nsft’ instead of ‘nsfw’. 

LINKS HIDE POSTS. If your post contains a link, it just won’t show up at all now, no matter what it is. Redirects no longer work. This sucks. Have your links in your description, or in a pinned post instead. 

SIDE BLOGS ARE HIDDEN. I’ve heard that currently, new side blogs just don’t show up in the tags at all for a while, which is awful. I’m not sure how long it’s for, but it’s something to keep in mind. 

SELF-REBLOG. Don’t be scared to do this. I tag mine with ‘self-reblog’ so people can block the tag if they want to, but there are a lot of reasons to toss your art up more than once, like timezones!

Here’s some more general tips & things I try to keep in mind.

Gathering a following takes time. It can take a LOT of time. It can be really, really discouraging feeling like you’re posting into the void; I highly recommend focusing on a group of friends, and drawing/writing what you enjoy, instead of trying to please an audience. 

Only about 2% of your followers will actually interact with your posts. I found this very reassuring to know, because when you see art with eight thousand notes and yours only has two, it can feel like your work doesn’t matter- instead, what you’re seeing is someone with a LOT of followers and about the same engagement level anyone else has. I know, it can still be disheartening to think ‘but how do they have so many followers when I have so few?’ but don’t give up! Whether you have 1 follower or 1000, you still have people who care about what you do!

Try out different platforms. If tumblr isn’t working for you, maybe another site will. Personally, I get almost zero engagement on Twitter, so I stopped focusing my energy there. It’ll vary for you, but you don’t have to post absolutely everywhere!

Don’t give up. Please, please, draw/create for yourself first and foremost. What you make matters! The current state of the internet is stacked against us, but creativity is a beautiful thing, and it’s so, so important.

[roguish-gallery]

Did you ever make that joker tier list, I always like seeing what people think of all the different ones. Though if they put Romero last I can no longer respect them.

LMAO I DID! I think I’ve made it kind of obvious in this blog but I... don’t... particularly... care... for... the joker.... unless he’s, y’know, fun to watch. Cause he’s a clown, and clowns are supposed to be entertaining. But since you politely brought it up, and and because I have a deep respect for mutual Romero-lovers, I guess this would be a good time to explain my rankings and just discuss my general thoughts on each clown:

General Thoughts:

For the most part, I don’t really care for the Joker. This is hardly an uncommon opinion here on tumblr, but I definitely fall on the side of the fandom that feels that he gets too much attention from DC. I get WHY they use him so often for films and comics, and I don’t have anything against *most* folks who consider them their favorite Batman villain, but at this point he’s used more for shock value and as a crutch instead of anything interesting. Like, instead of giving attention to the other Rogues, writers (at least for the comics) will try and make up some bullshit story that they can shoehorn the Joker into, ‘cause it sells. It’s tiring, and I feel like the character has lost his meaning; I can only read so many stories about the Joker, I don’t fucking know, wearing a suit made from dead babies and Jason Todd’s flayed corpse before I get sick of it.

I’m at the point where I’ll like any Joker who’s just fun to watch. I genuinely respect those who prefer darker interpretations of the character, but that isn’t me; I vastly prefer the lighthearted takes on him, because... at this point... writers who use the “cleaner” version of him tend to be more creative, since they actually have to write a Joker story that doesn’t rely on gore/torture porn.

TIER ONE:

Joker Baby: Self explanatory. Joker Baby is thematic, thoughtful, and intense. Everytime I watch this video, I shiver with fear and pleasure; something primal in me awakens whenever Joker Baby runs his fingers through his spray-on dyed hair, and ends up smearing green paint on his forehead- it represents the inner turmoil, the chaos, that resides within the disturbed body that is Joker Baby. Nothing can ever hope to top the artistic and cultural impact Joker Baby has had on society.

TIER TWO:

Batman Ninja: I genuinely believe that Batman Ninja is one of the most fun, organic, and creative things to come out from the Batman side of DC comics in like... hmmm... a decade, maybe (I could talk for hours about how much I love this movie but that’s something for a future post). This Joker is easily, and unironically my favorite interpretation of the character, period. I love his energy, his design, everything. This is the most fun I’ve ever had watching a Joker on-screen, and for that I’ve gotta give the film credit where it is due.

Batman ‘66: I looooove Caesar Romero. Batman ‘66 in general is one of my favorite pieces of Batman media, and I absolutely adore this Joker. The show is pure, genuine fun, and it’s nice to turn my brain off and watch a show where the entire cast was allowed to goof around. This Joker is just a cute, goofy little clown-man who likes to commit crimes, go surfing, turn Gotham’s water reserve into gelatin, and have wild orgies with Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. I massively appreciate the hustle. I love his little mustache and his facial expressions. I’d give him a chaste little kiss on the cheek if I could.

The Batman: EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL TAKE BUT. I think TB!Joker is better than what people will give him credit for. I can only imagine how stressful it must have been to be the first Batman cartoon to follow BTAS and the writers for this show knew they were gonna be fucked no matter what they did with the Joker, so they just decided to try something completely different with him. Personally, I appreciate the new direction- he has a fun, unhinged energy. I’ve placed him higher than BTAS/BTNA!Joker simply because The Batman was the show that got me into the Rogues in the first place, and I’m just a bit closer to this Joker because of it. Also his vampire form was cool as FUCK in Batman Vs. Dracula and the scene where he gets drenched in blood at a blood bank is fucking awesome.

Batman the Animated Series/The New Adventures: Everyone loves BTAS’s Joker, and I’m no exception. Mark Hamill is fucking great, and the writers clearly knew the character well enough to create a version of him that can be fun and threatening. As an aside, I unironically like his redesign in BTNA- I remember Hamill mentioning somewhere that he thought it was neat that this Joker looked more like a shark (I’ll see if I can find a source on that... I think he said it in an interview with Kevin Smith?) and I kinda agree with him. the redesigns in the final season are hit or miss, but I didn’t get why so many people bitched about the Joker’s new look.

Batman Unlimited: Hear me out... Hear me out... Clown... funny... and cute... He wears a little crown and gives Solomon Grundy a little smooch on the cheek and it is as delightful as it sounds. Yes the Batman Unlimited films literally only exist to sell toys but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them on some ironic level.

TIER THREE:

Lego Batman: He’s a gay icon. He has the range. Enough said.

White Knight: This is just a genuinely good, original take on the character, and the art in White Knight is absolutely gorgeous. 

Arkham: My friends and I joke that this Joker is basically a more unhinged version of BTAS! Joker and... yeah. I’m glad Hamill and Paul Dini got to fuck around with the character more, but I never really dwelled on the Joker parts of the games like I might have for other characters. I definitely liked him the most in Arkham Asylum, as he was more fun to watch. Arkham City was fiiiiine, but I think I replayed the game so much that I kinda got fatigued with everything about it. Genuinely hated his part in Origins, and I was pissed that he stole the attention from Black Mask and Bane (who’s the best fucking part of Origins IMO). I’ll admit that I... Haven’t... played... Knight yet (I have it on PC but my laptop is too wimpy to run it) but like... He’s dead at that point, so I’d assume he isn’t the main point of that game anyway. I love Mark Hamill and the fact I can personally beat the shit out of this Joker, so he’s ranked up pretty high for those reasons.

TIER FOUR:

Batman ‘89: TBH this Joker should be a rank higher, but I’m too lazy to hop onto PicsArt to change it. NIcholson was an excellent choice, and I apprecaite how this Joker makes use of the playful and unhinged aspects of the character. Also, his outfits are cute, and I love the museum scene.

Brave and the Bold: Technically this Joker SHOULD be ranked higher since he’s literally based on the more lighthearted comics in the 60′s but... ehhh... I haven’t really watched BATB so I don’t have any strong opinions on the show and how it handles the character. he’s ranked this high through beause I appreciate what they were going for.

Golden Age: The quality of comics are always subjective, based on the creative team behind them. Some I’ll like more, others less so, It’s kind of hard to rank the pre-52 comic version of the Joker because of this.

TIER FIVE:

Killing Joke: Read it, didn’t care for it. I acknowledge how massive the impact this comic had on... everything, but just because I recognize how important this graphic novel is, doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The Dark Knight: Ledger did an excellent job with the role, but uhh... I’m kind of sick of the alt-right chuds who are out there sucking this Joker’s dick. The fanbase definitely ruined the character for me.

TIER SIX:

99′: Eh

Endgame: No

Suicide Squad: NO

Death of the Family: Hate him. Despise him. Lame stupid dumb little edgy bitch.

Gotham (Jeremiah): I don’t particulary care for Gotham in general, but the only reason I ranked this Joker over Jerome is beause I thought it was kinda funny to see that they made him a little rat-man, and I liked watching all the fujoshi on here cry and complain that they can’t ship this version of the joker with the pre-pubescent Bruce Wayne in the show bc he’s too ugly.

Gotham (Jerome): stop shippping this freak (who is fucking eighteen years old) with a literal twelve year old child. what the FUCK is wrong with yall.

UNRANKED:

The Joker (2019): I don’t plan on watching this film, nor will I ever. I know this is ironic, coming from someone who runs a Rogue blog, but stuff that focuses primarily on a character’s deteriorating mental health makes me reaaaaallllllyyyyy anxious (it’s kind of a phobia) and considering that I don’t particularly the Joker, I have no reason to watch something I know will only give my dumb ADHD-ass intrusive throughts.

[honeylikewords]

They took a perfectly good start and turned it into the white evil guy is just misunderstood and needs the love of the right woman crap, completely screwing up pretty much everything else. Poe deserved better. Finn deserved better. Rose deserved better. Heck, even Rey deserved better than being shoved together with him. It sucks, and I'm over it. And all the actors didn't deserve a single second of hate because they weren't white.

Yep.

I’ve been very vocal about my feelings on the many failings of the SW sequel trilogy, both as failures politically and failures as just cohesive narratives, but hearing firsthand, straight from John, exactly how much he endured because of not only the story-based racism perpetuated against him but the actual on-set and directorial racism that was also active against him is just...

Like, I want to be shocked. I’m horrified, I’m disgusted, and I’m angry, but what more can I expect from people who tokenize, dismiss, and humiliate Black people as an industry? These people don’t value him as an actor, as a talent, or as even a human person to treat with basic social dignity. I can’t fake surprise when I know that this industry, this country, this world runs on the fuel of delegating Black people to “less-than” status. Christ.

I really don’t know how to get through to people that rooting for R*ylo from the get-go was just such an insidiously white-centric, shitty move. I won’t even deny it with “let people ship what they want” politeness anymore: the narrative was setting up a FinnRey endgame, and people pushing so hard for a white, abusive, Neo-N*zi character to “earn his redemption” by being “loved better” by a white woman, shutting the Black male lead out of the film and out of the relationship he was supposed to build over the course of the coming films, was racist. It is racist.

I don’t care if people like Adam Driver. I like him too-- he’s a great actor and, from all accounts, a nice guy-- but liking him or thinking he’s handsome doesn’t excuse narratively rejecting a Black man in favor of a violent, totalitarian, abusive, white man who was a LITERAL NEO-N*ZI PARALLEL. 

And the creative teams, LucasFilm, Disney, whoever listened to all the petulant white fans demanding to see the white people kiss caved to racism. They fed the fire and look where it got them. 

It’s vile, it’s low, it’s degrading, it’s nothing less than a hollow placation of white fantasies at the expense of genuine progress and of even the most basic structures of storytelling.

We were promised a growing dynamic between a female Jedi and a Black Jedi. We were supposed to see their bond grow and evolve. We were supposed to see their characters develop and strengthen and watch them tear down a fascist empire.

But what we got was pandering to white people, pandering to heteronormative expectations, and racist action taken against the very small handful of Black and brown actors who had finally broken through in a heavily white-dominated fandom space. 

Kelly Marie Tran was bullied off of social media, harangued and harassed, and had her character relegated to brief blips in the following film because the team behind the film caved to the racist mudslinging perpetrated against her.

Oscar Isaac had his character reduced to a heteronormative DRUG DEALER, despite having CHANGED HIS LAST NAME so that he would stop being typecast in drug dealer roles. He has even said that if he knew what was going to happen to Poe, he would have let them kill him off in the first movie like JJ Abrams had originally suggested. 

And John.

What else can I say except that my heart burns and breaks and aches for him and everything he’s been through? What could I say that he hasn’t said?

I’ll drop this quote from his interview: “His primary motivation is to show the frustrations and difficulties of trying to operate within what can feel like a permanently rigged system. He is trying, really, to let you know what it feels like to have a boyhood dream ruptured by the toxic realities of the world.”

He has been so strong in his push back against this system and the people who seek to harass and belittle and dehumanize him and for that I am so grateful and I look up to him with intense admiration, but, God, I wish he didn’t have to. I can’t imagine what this must have been like behind closed doors. What must have been going on for him in private, in his heart and head and soul as he had to just sit there and smile and watch his big break get smeared in front of him, as vitriol and hate and death threats flooded his inbox for no reason other than him having the audacity to be Black.

I love the characters. I love parts of the movies and I’ll rewatch them and cobble together my own canon and enjoy what brings me love and warmth and happiness, and continue to support and promote characters like Finn and Poe and Rose and, hell, even my own version of Rey. Force Awakens is still an objectively great Star Wars film and a comfort of mine and a window into the future we could have had with these amazing characters.

But absolutely fuck every single person who contributed to tearing down the people of color in this series, and fuck every single person who harassed their actors, and fuck every single person that put all their energy into supporting Kylo Ren and his goddamn waste of a ‘redemption arc’ instead of giving a single thought to the Black man who should have been given his due depth.

And go John Boyega; every new project he takes on, I’m gonna be there watching and supporting as best I can. He’s more than damn well earned it.

[chaosstar290]

Reasons try out Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore.

Nintendo's been pretty casual with porting Wii U games over to the Switch, and for good reasons. Normally, I'm not all into porting games that I've already played, but my personal favorite games on the system that lack good marketing and advertising are now getting the attention and love they deserve.

Take Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for example, one of my favorite 2D platfomers. The game originally sold 1.72 million copies worldwide on the Wii U. Not very good numbers, huh? However, the Switch port managed to beat those sales numbers with 2.25 million units sold worldwide by the end of March 2019.

So while this could be seen as a way for Big N to earn more $$$, this is also a way for those who never owned a Wii U and missed out on some of the system's best titles to give these games a shot. Now we just need a port of Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Wonderful 101...and Star Fox Zero, I guess.

But that's a topic for another time. This post is specifically for my favorite JRPG on the Wii U only to be tied with Xenoblade Chronicles X....Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.

This'll be a long one, so here's hoping you'll stick with it until the end.

Development

Before I get into the reasons, lemme educate you guys a bit. Back in January 2013, both Atlus and Intelligent Systems made a teaser trailer for a potential Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover for the Wii U.

The trailer was mostly just a slideshow with various character artwork. Despite this, there was a decent amount of hype surrounding it. But development around the game was pretty silent. That is, until we fast forward to the Nintendo Direct in April 1, 2015. We got a trailer of the ambitious SMT x FE crossover that fans were waiting for...but this was the final product.

Needless to say...neither SMT nor FE fans were happy about this. The fandoms were incredibly salty and foaming at the mouths, basically calling it a Person 4 Lite with a hint of FE. Heck, they're probably still posts on this site from 5 years ago that'll show that.

Fast forward to the games initial release, and you'll see quite a few positive reviews and thoughts about TMS. Unfortunately, the sale numbers were not all that great for the game. Obvious reasons being that it was a Wii U game, and many fans of both SMT x FE were not happy with how it turned out.

And to be honest, I wasn't feeling the game myself at first. It seemed too lighthearted and upbeat, and the J-Pop, anime-ish aesthetics were very off-putting. However, the more I saw about the game, the more I was drawn into it. Somehow all that disappointment I had about TMS originally just washed away. And considering it was a new IP, I decided to give it a chance. And hoo boy...I was generally pleased.

With that outta the way, let's get into why I'm excited for the Switch port of game, and hoping people will give it a fairer chance.

The Setting

The plot of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is mostly simple. You start out as high schooler Itsuki Aoi, the main character of the game encountering his childhood friend Tsubasa Oribe at an audition event to become a idol. It isn't until moments later in the game that the area gets overruned by shadowy creatures known as Mirages that suck out the creative energy known as Perso-- ah I mean Performa from the other idols and audience.

Poor girl doesn't know what's gonna happen next.

Despite our main characters seeming unharmed by the effect, the Mirages drag Tsubasa into their world known as the Idolsphere. And of course, courageous Itsuki takes action to follow and rescue her.

After trying to make a daring rescue, Itsuki gets bombarded by a Mirage, but somehow manages to awaken it. Taking the form of Fire Emblem Awakening's protagonist Chrom. Itsuki does the same with the Mirage that captured Tsubasa that takes the form of Cedea from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon. The two awakaned Mirages, however, suffer from a bit of amnesia and can't quite remember who and what they are.

From there on, Itsuki and Tsubasa form a partnership with Chrom and Cedea, encountering various characters trying to reach their way to stardom while trying to draw back the opposing forces from taking over Tokyo and the world. Typical RPG stuff, am I right?

It's a fairly standard and slightly cliche plot with some common anime tropes, but for this game...it works. It's a plot that's incredibly silly, upbeat, and over-the-top, but again...it works for this game. And I love it. It may not be original, deep, or complex, but the story does its best to not take itself too seriously, and it doesn't fail to keep a smile in my face.

Aside from the vanilla cookie-cutter MC Itsuki, the various casts that you meet are incredibly charming, and go through their own personal growth as celebrities. Though you mileage may vary on this.

The Gameplay

The combat is the real star of Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Basically, it's your standard turn-based combat system...but with a few twists. If you've ever played a SMT or Persona game, then don't be surprised that elemental weaknesses make an appearance here. Along with that, the Triangle Weapon system from Fire Emblem also makes an appearance in the game.

But if you're not familiar with either franchise then give you a basic example how this works. Say that you've encountered an armored Mirage wielding an axe. The weaknesses on that enemy are both lightning and swords, and Itsuki just so happens to have both the necessary element and weapon equipped.

In case you're wondering...how the Triangle Weapon mechanic works in FE is that Swords beat Axes, Axes beat Lances, and Lances beat Swords.

The interesting thing about this is that once you exploit an enemy's weakness, other characters will jump in and combo extra attacks. These are called Sessions, and their not only powerful...but also flashy as all hell and it's glorious. Not only that, but there's also Duo Arts where two certain characters will sometimes perform a song that unleashes a powerful attack...which also strings up more Sessions. As broken as this sounds, it actually is pretty strategic for taking down harder enemies, and they can also form Sessions...so be careful.

There's more to the gameplay like roaming Tokyo, exploring dungeons, and upgrading your characters and Mirages by Tiki from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon as well.

There's mixed opinions on the dungeon aspects of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but...I personally enjoyed them. Aside from the first one. Once you get past the first dungeon, they get better as the game progresses. From exploring a darker version of Shibuya where you have to avoid giant cameras from sending you back to the entrance of the of the room you currently entered, to venturing through a maze-like TV studio.

There's also side-missions that you can do with your main cast that'll help them grow and develop even further. You'll be rewarded with either a special cutscene or a special attack. Or maybe both.

The Visuals

Go go...Persona Rangers?

If it wasn't obvious from the amount of images I'm posting, Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a very colorful game. Fitting with it's lighthearted theme, the amount of colors the game throws at you makes visuals aesthetically pleasing. Heck, you could make these your personal wallpaper on your phone or something.

Sure, Tokyo Mirage Sessions isn't nearly as strong as Persona 5 graphically or even artistically, but like most Nintendo games...what their games lack in terms of detailed ultra-hyper graphics, they make up for it with giving their games gorgeous artstyles.

Also, this game has some reeeeeally good artwork.

The Music

J-Pop plays a pretty big role in Tokyo Mirage Sessions, so expect a lot of vocal tracks. If you're not into this kind of genre of music, then you might wanna stray away from this game. If you are (or if it doesn't bother you), then you're in for a treat. As someone who really isn't into J-Pop myself, the songs in this game are incredible and catchy followed by some beautiful cutscenes. Reincarnation from Kiria Kurono and Feel from Tsubasa Oribe are some of my personal favorites.

The music from outside the vocal tracks are pretty good too. The normal battle theme and the Illusion Shibuya dungeon theme are just to name a couple.

What's New?

Like I said before, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is a port of the Wii U version, but with added content. Any DLC that was added in the original game will part of the base game in the Switch version. But let's talk about the new stuff.

EX Story and Songs

The EX Story is basically a dungeon that you explore in short bursts. Here you'll find new costumes such as a Joker outfit from Persona 5 for Itsuki, or an Annette outfit from Fire Emblem Three Houses for Mamori Minamoto. Or you can have a much easier time grinding for EXP. Also, much like the side-stories, this dungeon will also explore the main casts' issues and help them grow.

New songs will also be added in this port. A duo song called "She is..." sung by Tsubasa and Kiria is one of them.

Sessions

By making Sessions even more powerful and ridiculous, unplayable characters like Tiki, Maiko Shimazaki, and Barry Goodman will also join in Sessions.

In addition, a Quick Session option will be added. Which is a major upgrade in my book. One of the big issues the Wii U version had was while the Sessions were fun to watch, they took forever to get through with the more characters that joined your party. There are also smaller improvements like the Switch version having faster loading times.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this long as hell post will spark some interest into those who'll give the game a shot. I know there's small nitpicks like the lack of English voice acting and censorship, but the latter is a topic I'd rather not delve deep into.

Regardless, these small cons are greatly outweighed by the large pros this charming game has. If you're an Atlus fan, a lover of JRPGs, or wanting to play something that'll ease the wait for Persona 5 Royal, I highly recommend you give Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE encore a shot.

If you're also waiting for Persona 5 to actually come to the Switch like me, this game is next best thing we've got for the time being.

This is one of the most stylish menu screens ever.

[nihilnovisubsole]

so i hesitate to go into too much detail with this, because i don’t want it to be interpreted as A Take™ on anything. but: with several big media franchises ending in a short period of time, i’ve seen a lot of interesting, thoughtful conversations open up about major fan disappointment and how to deal with it.

all i can really say is: i understand. i do. and at the same time, this is why i wrote dangerous crowns. i loved doing fanfic and still love the idea of doing it now, but after one too many disappointments, i needed something i could call my own. so i set out, not really feeling like i could worldbuild, not knowing if anybody would be interested in what i wrote. the longer i kept at it, the more comfortable i felt. soon, i was fully “in the fandom” of my own universe. looking back, the solution was probably obvious. it just took me a long time to feel up to doing it.

so if something you love burns you that much - like, so much, you’ll never enjoy it again - think about trying original fic. what do you have to lose?

i’m not saying this with any sneering sense of ridicule. your reasons for being upset could be absolutely dead-on. if you never write anything other than fanfic, you’ll have made something that you can be proud of. but i’ve been going through that fan letdown since i was a little kid. i’m being 100% earnest here: it sucks. it sucks a lot more than many of us are willing to admit. when a media franchise that you enjoy brightens your day that much, it can be terrible when the writers make frustrating decisions. and if you’re like me, where you have strong opinions about how stories should go, you basically set yourself up for it every time. it feels gross.

but in my experience, the only treatment that ever worked was to open up a new doc and say “okay, this one is mine.” yeah, you can write fix-it fic, but that means you’re still engaging with the material that’s causing you so much stress in the first place. i guess in some way, it’s a creative version of self-love. if you can become that excited about something somebody else wrote, you can eventually become that excited about your own ideas, too.

it can be very therapeutic to know you’re putting your energy into a project where you have complete creative control. especially if you’re one of those people with a lot of natural drive to create, because sooner or later, you’re going to need somewhere to put it. you can kill or not kill characters. you can pair them however you want. you can have endings where everyone does the thing that satisfies you most. all you have to do is stick your foot in the edge of the pond. once you get used to the water, you may even find it’s more comfortable.

[toast-the-unknowing]

HI! I wanted to say that I really love your writing and I get really excited to see notifications that you've posted new work! And I was just curious if you worked in an office of some kind, and if so how do you find the time/motivation to sit in front of the computer and write personal work. It's just something I've been struggling with myself, and I wanted to ask if you had any similar experiences. If the answer is no, then no worries :) Thanks again!

Oh, that's a tough one, Anon.

I do currently work in an office -- as An Adult I've had an array of jobs, all of them either retail or customer service or "office assistant in a field I don't care about." And I’m sure that every job has the power to take away from your creative work, just as a simple matter of resources -- time and energy spent working can't be spent writing -- but there's something extra challenging about jobs you don't like, jobs you're doing just because you have to. They take so much out of you.

Motivation is one of my personal crosses to bear. I don't have it. I consistently struggle to find the motivation to do basic life tasks. So I don't know that I have answers for you, but I definitely have sympathy.

I also have, like, so many more words than I thought, so they’re going behind a cut.

When motivation is in short supply, the stuff that has to happen or you will literally die comes first. That's okay. It gets to come first. If I put on clothing and show up for work and eat some kind of food at some point, I got through the day. That's an accomplishment. And sometimes doing that uses up all my motivation for the day. Sometimes I can't even get up that much motivation, let alone do anything else. That sucks, but it happens.

But it doesn't happen every single day.

Some days have more motivation than others. Some seconds have more motivation than others. Why can I do the thing in this one second when for weeks it's been blocked like a grayed-out option on a computer menu? I don't know. But I could. Motivation is weird like that. You never know when it will show up, so you have to give yourself opportunities.

You know your office better than I do -- is the culture "get the work done on time and we don't care what you do" or "YOU MUST PERFORM 'PERFECT EMPLOYEE' AT ALL TIMES"? What's the layout of your desk? Can people read over your shoulder? How nosy are your bosses/coworkers? How strict are the internet controls your IT department uses? How busy are you? What are your own particular psychological quirks and philosophical attitudes? What's your anxiety look like?

It may be that "work on my writing while on the clock" is not an option for you. I get that; in the time I've been an office worker, I've been all over the place, from "my own writing is what I spend the majority of my time on while I'm at work" to "I won't even touch my writing on a company computer." Right now is closer toward the latter. But, if writing at work is an option for you, now, don't lose out because your current project is saved to a .docx file on your home desktop. Make it so that if you had to, you could write under literally ANY circumstance. I carry a Chromebook with me everywhere. Before that I carried a composition notebook and a pen at all times. I know people who write fics in draft emails or the notes app on their phone.

When time and motivation are scarce, you have to build in the opportunity anywhere that you are able to. Those might not be the same opportunities that work for other people. I've heard established writers say things to newer writers like "if you don't have the time during the day, just wake up earlier," and that's so discouraging and heartbreaking for me to hear. "Wake up earlier" isn't an option for me. "Wake up on time" is barely an option for me. Getting out of bed is a bottleneck for all of my motivation issues to all run into each other at the same time. But "work on the bus" does work for me. Not every single day. Maybe one day I'm tired. Maybe the bus is really full. Maybe the person I'm sitting next to looks like my mother and that makes it weird to write about boys kissing. Maybe the one fic I really really really want to work on that day is porn, and no I'm not going to do that on the bus/at work/on my lunch break. Maybe I pull out my Chromebook and open it and look at my fic with every intention of working on it and just.....nothing happens, for forty minutes, and then I'm embarrassed and put it away. That's fine. Because if I do write something on one of those commutes or lunch breaks or "just gotta kill time" evenings even once, then it was worth it. If I give myself lots of opportunities, then even if I don't take most of them, I still get stuff done I wouldn't otherwise.

Little bits COUNT. If all you manage to write is "in this scene the characters argue" THAT COUNTS. You wrote a thing. Because the next time you write, that can become "in this scene the characters argue about money and Adam storms off". And then the next time it can be "the characters argue about money and Adam storms off and Blue says something really cutting to Gansey and Gansey is crushed." And then, and then, and then.

It sucks to write a story one tortured sentence at a time, but it can be done, and sometimes that's the only way that it does get done. Some days all I do is turn [gansey says hi] into "Hello," Gansey said, and you know what, that counts.

Sometimes when writing has been hard or impossible for me, I've done writing adjacent tasks. Maybe the motivation isn't there, right now, to get writing done. Can you daydream about something you know you'll never write in a million years? Can you spend your commute, or the time you spend watching paper feed through the scanner, or that awkward minute in the break room when your boss is getting coffee at the same time as you -- can you spend that time thinking about a Hogwarts/ABO/vampire/fake dating/rock band/Groundhog day/all-of-the-above fic that you would never write? Because daydreaming and dicking around can be very helpful for getting your brain in gear to write. And if you daydream about the story you're actually writing, or one you'd like to write, (a) you get caught up in it needing to be GOOD ENOUGH which is anathema to free wheeling fun times, and (b) you run that risk of coming up with that PERFECT bit of dialogue that you aren't able to write down and then you forget it. If you forget that really funny bit of dialogue for the Declan/Henry soulmate alien abduction shapeshifter fic you were never going to write, well, what does it matter?

I've done this before when I've been in a place where I'm not writing, and there's something about being able to say, "okay, I didn't write anything, but I came up with five different fun little stories that I can go back to, in my brain, any time I feel like it." And I've discovered things about the characters that I do then want to use in a "real" story . Maybe you will stumble across an interesting dynamic or interaction in that OT6 West Wing crossover you were never going to write, but it's worth revisiting in something you do want to write. When you're able to.

The ways of motivation are mysterious. I don't really know why it's easier to find the motivation now than it's been at other points in my life, in other fandoms. I think part of it is momentum, from accepting "okay I'll just try to do a little bit of writing" and then the little bit happens and keeps happening and becomes a big bit. There's been so many times now where my bus pulls up to my stop and I go "ugh I have to put the laptop AWAY and GO HOME why" and I just try to race home so I can sit down on the first chair I find and keep writing.

Are there some places, or times, or situations, or writing mediums, where the motivation comes a little easier? If you don't know of any can you pay attention for those? Is there any way to capitalize on that? If super boring meeting where I don't have to do anything but I'm not allowed to skip is a great time for day dreaming about your writing, is there anyway to take your lunch/a coffee break/a really long bathroom break where you hunt & peck type into your email drafts right after that?

I tried tracking my writing once, on the suggestion of a very convincing essay by an author who promised that only good things could come from meticulously noting where the writing happened and when and how many words. The result was that my word count dropped to zero. Very easy to track! Not so great for literally any other goal I had. But I've learned a lot about my process since then, not from spreadsheets and journals but just from...paying attention, and asking myself questions, and thinking back on all the thinking about writing I do, and it's become easier to make words happen. Not a guarantee, but -- easier. So I think the most helpful thing is just to give yourself opportunities, even little ones, to write or create, and then just...pay attention. To your process and your words and your motivation and your situation, and try to work within those and not against those.

[renmaru]

you know. sometimes i love something a lot so i need to scream about the things that piss me off about it. i don’t think this is a particularly negative post but it’s just like sheer frustration and if you dont get some satisfaction from articulating your frustration into tumbler dot coms longposts and destroying the capital of this website because you are not a gemini sun then like fair i guess feel free to disregard this. tonbokiris kiwame is cool go look at that.

now to the lukewarm tea ive been simmering for five years. the one thing i always think about all the time is that tkrb is a popular game despite itself. the piss poor gameplay with only the barest of bare QoL in the five years its been up, the seeming complete lack of direction and the frankly nonexistent worldbuilding is held up purely because of its attention to detail and reverence to the original culture and history of the swords combined with some very good character design and subtle but nuanced character writing that can be openly interpreted. just enough flavour to imply something larger but chickening out on actually making anything y’know. concrete. basically allowing the fans to draw their own conclusions. but even then a game like that would not survive cause there have been countless, hundreds of games with high quality and fervent attention to detail and respect for the source material that just died completely because they have such little to actually offer in terms of engagement. i think the main thing that bugs me about tkrb is that it has one of THE most creative, dedicated and strong fanbases of this genre of game who go out of their way to engage with any and all of the content and the devs seem kind of oblivious to this.

in comparison to modern gacha style games, touken ranbu releases barely any new content and frequently recycles content but somehow it’s still relatively popular with approx. 1mil active players daily but the maddening thing is that tkrb can reach much MUCH further. the fans are there, the curiosity is there, it’s just the game content is not fucking there. it does not put the effort into commissioning seasonal art, pushing new events with actual plotline/story content, creating promotional materials, tie-ins etc. but somehow its still in the top 5 comiket circles for nearly five fuckin years straight. here are your badley compiled receipts: c89(w2015), c90(s2016), c91(w2016), c92(s2017), c93(w2017), c94(s2018), c95(w2018), c96(s2019)

 it can launch itself from laughably low in the appstore ratings, hovering in the middle of the 200′s to TOP 30s in the appstore at the flick of a switch. what is this magic button that fucking quadruples revenue and skyrockets your app into the top 50 grossing apps? 3/4 of your characters getting static CGs that you cannot use at all anywhere in the game but will do a powerpoint transition and appear for 5 seconds at login. oh and like a few free mats i guess. and i kid you not it fuckin worked.

wanna know why that worked? it’s cause otherwise characters, especially fan favourites just don’t get anything at all. it’s like most characters outside of the very popular ones rarely get new art, new recollections, new anything outside of their kiwame upgrade which is more often than not years down the line and only recently, four years in, they decided to add alternate costumes but even then there’s a catch which has me feeling some kind of way.

and yes, i fully understand that tkrb is a multi-media franchise, i get that it’s got its fingers in so many pies like the stageplay, musicals, various manga anthologies, the animes, hell its even got live action but man, would it hurt to give some love in game? i’m not asking them to go full fgo route and commission the industry creme de la creme to make 6 full CE illustrations, lots of promo art and tonnes of new merch every single month. but the fact is for such a big franchise, reusing the same sprite art on nearly every piece of official merch, going so far as to add NEW costume art which is just the heads of the old default sprites edited onto new bodies? it screams cost cutting, it screams lazy, the path of minimum effort. it’s almost like the game itself and the original materials are an absolute afterthought at this point with only the most dedicated hanging on to it. i guarantee that the majority of people still playing tkrb are the committed day1 players and the actual rekijou cause it’s just painfully offputting to new fans, with other fans even going out of their way to specify the game is not integral to enjoying the series which sucks, but it’s true.

its a real damn shame to think that something you are so invested in is not particularly invested in itself. sometimes, just sometimes i wish they dev team for tkrb was more hands-on, more adventurous, more willing to listen to players, invest in the game and genuinely try and make the game the best it can be. i’m not asking for balls to the wall summer events, beautiful animated CMs from the likes of the industries best animators, i’m not asking for pages of supplemental lore compiled into books, character backstory novels or whatever i’m just asking for the lore and the characters that we love to sometimes occasionally be remembered in the actual game outside of like ... the two years between their kiwame and the vague possibility of a recollection. i want to feel like this game puts as much effort into itself as the fans do towards it.

it’s a painful truth but there’s one shining light which is that the fandom for tkrb is genuinely one of the most committed and transformative ones ive ever seen. i have never been involved with a fandom that varies so widely and puts in so much effort for these characters and this world. tkrb exists solely as a popular franchise due to the sheer legwork of the fans carrying it on their backs collaboratively. ultimately, tkrb is very very lore-light, there’s so much thats missing and the characters in-game rarely rarely interact with each other. the characters are contained solely in however many voice lines they get at implementation, their kiwame letters, and their updates kiwame lines and the only interaction they get with other swords is recollections or depending on the sword, the odd custom sparring lines.

but despite that there has been so much fan effort to explore everything in so many different varied ways, and amazingly there are certain tropes, relationships, lore etc. that have started off fanon and become canon. the fan community, especially the fanartists, doujins, writers, animators etc. being given a small indulgence by the anime is one of my favourite things about tkrbs relationship with its fanbase. that’s not to say that the fans dont give back in kind a hundred fold.

there’s so much i love about tkrb fans going out of their way to go SEE historical swords in japan, single-handedly reforging swords using crowdfunding and revitalising lots of small-town tourism having real world impact. shit makes me unbelievably happy. the stage plays and musicals are always met with warm reception and are always well attended and even though its hard to access, there are lots of western fans who have dived into a whole new MEDIUM that most of us arent really familiar with but out of their love for tkrb theyve done that. they have hosted the musical as far out as india and france, making tkrb a truly worldwide franchise and there theyve met full seats! as far out as india! then theres the fantranslators, who always have the drive the commitment and energy for the thankless work, the wiki always always is well maintained and they have new content up so fast, and there are so many people willing to help you out. even when crunchyr*ll got hanamaru s2 (i think) a week late and we were left without subs for the premier episode for a whole ass week, fantranslators who had never subbed before stepped up to translate a whole episode for FREE, encoding, subbing and timing it all despite never having done so just so others could understand the episode faster than cr*nchy themselves could. even, as well, it’s made so many history nerds out of a whole bunch of people, it’s created an appreciation for nihontou and japanese history that would otherwise probably never be in their orbit because of how inaccessible it is, especially in english. even on a personal note, i started learning japanese primarily so i could understand tkrb and the history behind it better and to read jp fanart/interact with fanartists.

 no matter what, i am forever warmed by how much i love tkrb and its fanbase and im glad that tkrb is still going strong, even despite itself sometimes and i hope that moving on tkrb tries new things, and becomes better for everyone.